With the news of Chris’s sister’s, Heidi, and her families’ call as mission presidents in Mongolia, there were some jostling of schedules to get to see them one more time before they left.
Benson Family
It turns out the kids were going to be in California with Chris’s parents while Heidi and Joseph were in the MTC for their one week of Mission President Conferences. It also happened to be just as our girls were finishing up school. So, we packed up for California and left the day after school let out.
Hannah, Bella, Cami
We maximized our time with the Benson kids, having Bella over at our property for sleep-overs most of the week.
Riding Down the Lane
There was a lot of bike riding – Cami even taught herself to ride a two-wheeler once we got there!
Crafting bracelets was a fun break from bike riding.
Marianne enjoyed having Emma read stories to her, whenever she could.
Marianne & Emma
The boys were a little out of luck as Caleb was away at gymnastics camp that week, but we still enjoyed spending time with them as well.
Joseph is Official
The kids were very excited for Heidi and Joseph to come home from the MTC. They looked a little bit different, always wearing nice clothes and having a black name tag (once they got to Mongolia, they were able to put on their tags in Mongolian).
Joseph Made John His Own Missionary Tag
It was great for the siblings to have some time together for lunch one day (Chris was picking up Caleb from gym camp).
Joseph, Heidi, Jed, Heather, Haley, and Donovan
We had a great week with the Benson’s! It was like having a mini-reunion, especially on the Sunday when we had EVERYONE there and could attend church together.
The Girl Cousins
(Bella, Hannah, Emma, Marianne, Lily, Sydney, Cami)
The Boy Cousins
(Liam, John, Caleb, Chris, Tommy, Ben, Jack)
Stephenson Family
We are excited for the Benson’s adventures and getting to share those with them through letters and pictures. Who knows, maybe Mongolia will be on our radar for a visit soon!
Benson’s at the Airport
Wow, Becca. You seriously have such an exciting life!! I feel very boring right now after reading all your adventures. 🙂 That is so amazing about Caleb and what a great gymnast he is…all your kids are very talented. I’m so interested in your family serving as mission presidents in Mongolia at such a young age. Is he taking all that time off work or is he independently employed or something? I remember when I was at Snow College we had a sister missionary in the stake that was from Mongolia…I remember her telling us she was the first missionary out of Mongolia.